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Great Railway Journeys on CIE
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Friday 13th December
8.04am Enniscorthy/Connolly an uneventful journey. Windows almost too caked with brake dust to see out of and only a minor annoyance but shortly before Connolly I needed to use the toilet - half an inch of 'fluid' lapped around the floor, no water in the taps and the basin almost overflowing.....yuk.
Anyway, nothing compared to the return journey! My son and myself arrived at Tara Street to catch the 5.33pm ex.Connolly and that's when the trouble started. Shortly before the train was due somebody ran off the end of the Up platform and climbed onto the Loop Line bridge. All services between Pearse and Connolly were suspended and eventually an announcement over the PA persuaded most passengers to leave the station. The lone IE member of staff on duty downstairs suggested that southbound passengers walk to Pearse where some services might be turned. Asked about what passengers for beyond Greystones might do he had no information!!
We headed for Busaras in the hope of making the 6.30pm bus to Wexford where they might accept our rail tickets. This however proved impossible and we were advised to get our rail tickets stamped at Connolly and for us to get Connolly to ring Busaras and tell them to take us. The Ticket office at Connolly duly stamped our tickets but the man at the Information desk would not ring Busaras as he said he if did it for us he would have to do it for everyone! He told us to come back to him if things did not return to normal.
The staff at the barrier were clueless as to what was happening and told us that they were being told nothing. Needless to say there wasn't any sort of a manager to be seen - well it was Friday and after 5.30pm.
So we missed the 6.30pm bus but knew that there was another at 7.30pm - we waited on the concourse until 7.10pm and then made our way back to the Information desk where the man on duty took pity on us and signed our tickets and rang Busaras. We got back to Busaras in the nick of time but need not have worried as the bus left ten minutes late.
Whatever about the reasons for the delay the complete lack of information and no sign of anybody taking charge of the situation was ridiculous. The PA system at Connolly was completely useless and every couple of words of an announcement would be followed by prolonged loud static making the whole thing unintelligible. Needless to say I will be seeking a partial/full refund. Watch this space.
PS Before anyone ask the obvious - I had insufficient cash with me to buy bus tickets and my bank cards were in Enniscorthy.0 -
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Another great railway journey on CIE yesterday - well Enniscorthy/Connolly/Enniscorthy yet again - and it could have been worse. In the Up direction (8.04 ex.Enniscorthy) I was entertained by the loud conversation of a drug dealer arranging his pick-up and price per gram with a colleague via his mobile phone. He had all the gear (sorry) - tracksuit hoodie, tatoos, white runners etc. and visited the toilet at least six times on the journey to Connolly. Is this latter point a typical giveaway?
Two trams later and I arrived at my halfway destination - Kehoe's, Sth.Anne Street but not open until after 11am so I checked into Grogan's, Sth.William Street another favourite haunt. Great place for the art collector as nearly everything on the walls is for sale - good service, sandwiches etc. too and pristine toilets!
The return journey (16.33 ex.Connolly) was the usual shambles on a four piece 29000 series railcar but not before an ICR turned up at the platform with all the indicators clearly showing Rosslare Europort as the destination.
People standing until Rathdrum in my carriage but at least the open windows kept the air circulating and less chance of the virus gaining a foothold. Two officials eventually checked tickets - including, yes, the train host! In fact train host, Tom, also checked tickets and made an announcement on another train that I recently used. Working class heroes please note!0 -
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Noted!:DAnother great railway journey on CIE yesterday - well Enniscorthy/Connolly/Enniscorthy yet again - and it could have been worse. In the Up direction (8.04 ex.Enniscorthy) I was entertained by the loud conversation of a drug dealer arranging his pick-up and price per gram with a colleague via his mobile phone. He had all the gear (sorry) - tracksuit hoodie, tatoos, white runners etc. and visited the toilet at least six times on the journey to Connolly. Is this latter point a typical giveaway?
Two trams later and I arrived at my halfway destination - Kehoe's, Sth.Anne Street but not open until after 11am so I checked into Grogan's, Sth.William Street another favourite haunt. Great place for the art collector as nearly everything on the walls is for sale - good service, sandwiches etc. too and pristine toilets!
The return journey (16.33 ex.Connolly) was the usual shambles on a four piece 29000 series railcar but not before an ICR turned up at the platform with all the indicators clearly showing Rosslare Europort as the destination.
People standing until Rathdrum in my carriage but at least the open windows kept the air circulating and less chance of the virus gaining a foothold. Two officials eventually checked tickets - including, yes, the train host! In fact train host, Tom, also checked tickets and made an announcement on another train that I recently used. Working class heroes please note!Racism is now hiding behind the cloak of Community activism.
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As part of my regular 'great' railway journeys I have the misfortune to pass along CIE's Great Wall of Shame between Greystones and Connolly and it never fails to depress me. Does nobody else notice? I refer to the epidemic of graffiti and vandalism visible along the route - nearly all of it caused by scumbags accessing the locations from the railway.
My predecessor, Judgement Day, posted about it eight years ago here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=76765359&postcount=2
and things haven't improved!
What should be the most architecturally inspiring part of the route - between Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock is like a war zone. The superb section of stone walling in the vicinity of the Yacht clubs and Irish Lights HQ is a graffiti artists playground and they seem completely oblivious to it. Beyond, the wonderful Cloncurry Towers, harbour and bathing pavilion built as compensation to a local landowner, are more wrecked every time I go past.
The pictures below are from the opening of the line in 1834 and 1979 - in the latter view the bathing pavilion was largely intact and it's only in recent years that it has been dismantled by vandals.
What can be done?
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Wednesday 22nd July saw me donning a face mask and taking the 06.20 express from Enniscorthy to Dun Laoghaire. A very quiet service, myself, my son and an OAP being the only passengers from Enniscorthy. As usual the ticket machine refused to accept a €50 note for my €29 fare. Ticket office not open so I boarded without a ticket.
The friendly, and well briefed, ticket checker rang ahead to Wicklow and organised for them to sell me a ticket.
Irish Rail have discovered how to beat social distancing problems - put on extra trains and don't tell passengers or staff about them.
Returning south in the afternoon I found that some bright spark had decided to operate the 16.30 Connolly/Rosslare (it had been taken off due to Covid-19) but they neglected to tell staff or passengers. I had heard about the possibility of it running from the ticket checker on the outward journey. However, at Dun Laoghaire the gruff staff member in the ticket office tried to tell me that more trains were being taken off rather than added!
Unconvinced I took the DART to Bray and checked with another staff member who told me in no uncertain terms that there was no train until the 17.33 service from Connolly. I went with my instincts and headed for the Down platform where on schedule the 16.33 ex.Connolly duly arrived - of course no platform announcements as Bray station is a shambles which it has been for most of the 50+ years that I've been using it. Nobody in charge, even the half mad young lad who runs about the place dispensing information but not in any sort of uniform, was missing.
Three people disembarked from the 4-piece ICR and I boarded to find myself the sole occupant. This remained the situation until Gorey when the checker appeared and two passengers. Combine this sort of nonsense with a massive amount of serious lineside works on the entire route south of Greystones and you have to fear for the future of the line. Great for the contractors clear felling trees, building embankments and culverts, installing fencing but what is it costing and why is a lot of it actually needed?
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That half mad young lad as you describe him has medical condition.Wednesday 22nd July saw me donning a face mask and taking the 06.20 express from Enniscorthy to Dun Laoghaire. A very quiet service, myself, my son and an OAP being the only passengers from Enniscorthy. As usual the ticket machine refused to accept a €50 note for my €29 fare. Ticket office not open so I boarded without a ticket.
The friendly, and well briefed, ticket checker rang ahead to Wicklow and organised for them to sell me a ticket.
Irish Rail have discovered how to beat social distancing problems - put on extra trains and don't tell passengers or staff about them.
Returning south in the afternoon I found that some bright spark had decided to operate the 16.30 Connolly/Rosslare (it had been taken off due to Covid-19) but they neglected to tell staff or passengers. I had heard about the possibility of it running from the ticket checker on the outward journey. However, at Dun Laoghaire the gruff staff member in the ticket office tried to tell me that more trains were being taken off rather than added!
Unconvinced I took the DART to Bray and checked with another staff member who told me in no uncertain terms that there was no train until the 17.33 service from Connolly. I went with my instincts and headed for the Down platform where on schedule the 16.33 ex.Connolly duly arrived - of course no platform announcements as Bray station is a shambles which it has been for most of the 50+ years that I've been using it. Nobody in charge, even the half mad young lad who runs about the place dispensing information but not in any sort of uniform, was missing.
Three people disembarked from the 4-piece ICR and I boarded to find myself the sole occupant. This remained the situation until Gorey when the checker appeared and two passengers. Combine this sort of nonsense with a massive amount of serious lineside works on the entire route south of Greystones and you have to fear for the future of the line. Great for the contractors clear felling trees, building embankments and culverts, installing fencing but what is it costing and why is a lot of it actually needed?
Describing someone like that as “half mad” says more about you than him.Racism is now hiding behind the cloak of Community activism.
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Wednesday 22nd July saw me donning a face mask and taking the 06.20 express from Enniscorthy to Dun Laoghaire. A very quiet service, myself, my son and an OAP being the only passengers from Enniscorthy. As usual the ticket machine refused to accept a €50 note for my €29 fare. Ticket office not open so I boarded without a ticket.
The friendly, and well briefed, ticket checker rang ahead to Wicklow and organised for them to sell me a ticket.
Irish Rail have discovered how to beat social distancing problems - put on extra trains and don't tell passengers or staff about them.
Returning south in the afternoon I found that some bright spark had decided to operate the 16.30 Connolly/Rosslare (it had been taken off due to Covid-19) but they neglected to tell staff or passengers. I had heard about the possibility of it running from the ticket checker on the outward journey. However, at Dun Laoghaire the gruff staff member in the ticket office tried to tell me that more trains were being taken off rather than added!
Unconvinced I took the DART to Bray and checked with another staff member who told me in no uncertain terms that there was no train until the 17.33 service from Connolly. I went with my instincts and headed for the Down platform where on schedule the 16.33 ex.Connolly duly arrived - of course no platform announcements as Bray station is a shambles which it has been for most of the 50+ years that I've been using it. Nobody in charge, even the half mad young lad who runs about the place dispensing information but not in any sort of uniform, was missing.
Three people disembarked from the 4-piece ICR and I boarded to find myself the sole occupant. This remained the situation until Gorey when the checker appeared and two passengers. Combine this sort of nonsense with a massive amount of serious lineside works on the entire route south of Greystones and you have to fear for the future of the line. Great for the contractors clear felling trees, building embankments and culverts, installing fencing but what is it costing and why is a lot of it actually needed?
If you know the ticket machines don't accept 50e notes why did you not have smaller notes, pay with card or book a flexible ticket online. You board a train without a valid ticket and you should have been finned. Just as well there was a ticket checker there and no RPU when you got off at DL.
In theory he should have been able to sell you the ticket but he probably wouldn’t accept 50s either.
I think the schedules changed so quick last week getting the message to people apart from those who need it i.e. the driver takes a bit of time and that service was probably putting a set in place for resumption of 7.20 on Thursday.
Works you mentioned have taken place on many routes over the last year so not something to worry about after years of neglect.0 -
If you know the ticket machines don't accept 50e notes why did you not have smaller notes, pay with card or book a flexible ticket online. You board a train without a valid ticket and you should have been finned. Just as well there was a ticket checker there and no RPU when you got off at DL.
In theory he should have been able to sell you the ticket but he probably wouldn’t accept 50s either.
I think the schedules changed so quick last week getting the message to people apart from those who need it i.e. the driver takes a bit of time and that service was probably putting a set in place for resumption of 7.20 on Thursday.
Works you mentioned have taken place on many routes over the last year so not something to worry about after years of neglect.
Yeah, it's mad stuff - a fare of €29 - a €50 note tendered in 2020 and the CIE machine can't accept it.
As for me paying a finn (is that the same as a fine?) - I don't think so. I usually buy a ticket at the ticket office but it was closed. Incidentally a staff member at the station warned me a while back that the machine has a habit of taking €50 notes and not returning them. Would you like me to get that in writing for you and post it here?
With your know it all, authoritarian approach you should apply for a job with IE as you fit the profile of many of their staff. How about the fact that I pay hundreds of Euros to the company every year to travel on their sub-standard trains on the Rosslare line and you want me fined for not being able to get a ticket from their crock of ****e vending machine.
As for your excuses about why nobody knew whether or not the 16.33 train was running - with that spin is it Barry Kenny's job you're after?
Works on the route shouldn't worry me because it's happening everywhere.....you mean like the relaying work on the closed Nenagh branch?0 -
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Care to comment on your disgraceful post earlier?Yeah, it's mad stuff - a fare of €29 - a €50 note tendered in 2020 and the CIE machine can't accept it. As for me paying a finn (is that the same as a fine?) - I don't think so. I usually buy a ticket at the ticket office but it was closed. Incidentally a staff member at the station warned me a while back that the machine has a habit of taking €50 notes and not returning them. Would you like me to get that in writing for you and post it here?
With your know it all, authoritarian approach you should apply for a job with IE as you fit the profile of many of their staff. How about the fact that I pay hundreds of Euros to the company every year to travel on their sub-standard trains on the Rosslare line and you want me fined for not being able to get a ticket from their crock of ****e vending machine.
As for your excuses about why nobody knew whether or not the 16.33 train was running - with that spin is it Barry Kenny's job you're after?
Works on the route shouldn't worry me because it's happening everywhere.....you mean like the relaying work on the closed Nenagh branch?Racism is now hiding behind the cloak of Community activism.
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Yeah, it's mad stuff - a fare of €29 - a €50 note tendered in 2020 and the CIE machine can't accept it. As for me paying a finn (is that the same as a fine?) - I don't think so. I usually buy a ticket at the ticket office but it was closed. Incidentally a staff member at the station warned me a while back that the machine has a habit of taking €50 notes and not returning them. Would you like me to get that in writing for you and post it here?
No need to get it in writing, if the machine hasn't enough change it will accept the fare price or above and send you on your way. You will have to contact Irish Rail about a refund outstanding. The machines are progommed not to accept 50 euro notes. Why you ask, because someone who pays for a 5 euro fare will drain all the change and notes (coins before cash) from the machine if repeated by multipal people.
So its lodgical not to accept them to ensure there is change available. Now don't quote me on this I beleive if the fare is over 30 euro they will accept 50 notes.
You have ignored the option to purchase via card or online. There was options available to you to purchase before you boarded and legally you would be slapped with a fine if RPU caught you. Do you not have a Debit/Credit card?With your know it all, authoritarian approach you should apply for a job with IE as you fit the profile of many of their staff. How about the fact that I pay hundreds of Euros to the company every year to travel on their sub-standard trains on the Rosslare line and you want me fined for not being able to get a ticket from their crock of ****e vending machine.
I would be to ambitious for IE, they would hate me plus my big mouth wouldn't get me past interview
As for your excuses about why nobody knew whether or not the 16.33 train was running - with that spin is it Barry Kenny's job you're after?
Well I would do a better job than wishy washy Barry Kenny! IE need to take a tougher tone with media.
Did you check the journey planner, I'm sure it was in that. Again given the fluid situation schedules are changing with little notice.Works on the route shouldn't worry me because it's happening everywhere.....you mean like the relaying work on the closed Nenagh branch?
I am refering to works that you mentioned, fencing, tree falling, clerence, culverts and enbankment re-enforment. Its happened accross many routes over last 18 months.
Now you can't relay track on a live railway line can you? Given the extent of the works on Nenagh branch its more cost effective to close it rather than having to do weeks of weekend/night works.0 -
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What an attitude!Yeah, it's mad stuff - a fare of €29 - a €50 note tendered in 2020 and the CIE machine can't accept it. As for me paying a finn (is that the same as a fine?) - I don't think so. I usually buy a ticket at the ticket office but it was closed. Incidentally a staff member at the station warned me a while back that the machine has a habit of taking €50 notes and not returning them. Would you like me to get that in writing for you and post it here?
With your know it all, authoritarian approach you should apply for a job with IE as you fit the profile of many of their staff. How about the fact that I pay hundreds of Euros to the company every year to travel on their sub-standard trains on the Rosslare line and you want me fined for not being able to get a ticket from their crock of ****e vending machine.
As for your excuses about why nobody knew whether or not the 16.33 train was running - with that spin is it Barry Kenny's job you're after?
Works on the route shouldn't worry me because it's happening everywhere.....you mean like the relaying work on the closed Nenagh branch?
The vending machines can only dispense change in coin and therefore have very sensibly been programmed not to accept €50 for fares of less than €30 so they don't run the risk of running out of coin. This has been the case for many years.0 -
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